Visionary technology investment tycoon Doug Richard set industry tongues wagging yesterday when his entrepreneurial training course Creative Country Business appeared on Groupon. A canny strategy! Surely punters fell over themselves to snag a discount on a weekend away with the tech titan.

Well, actually, not quite. Sources inside Groupon told The Kernel this afternoon that Richard garnered just three sales.

What went wrong? Surely Groupon’s customers could see the value of the package on offer? For just £199, purchasers not only got the opportunity to attend a two-day retreat at which Doug would impart “the skills needed to realise personal goals”, they also had the chance to bask in the wit and wisdom of car-crash PR guru Lynne Franks, upon whom Jennifer Saunders’ Eddie Monsoon character was based.

“Other shrewd business brains” would have been on hand to offer further nuggets of wisdom – and, if all that weren’t enough, participants would have been gifted a three (3) month subscription to Country Homes & Interiors. What more could a budding entrepreneur wish for?

Groupon declined to confirm today that a technical fault had been responsible for the dispiriting sales, which is the only explanation The Kernel could come up with for the fact that only three people slapped down the requisite cash.

Rumours that the former Dragon has fallen on hard times are surely nothing more than callous heckling from misinformed cynics. After all, as Doug himself explains in this viral YouTube hitCoupon Advertising: How To Use Groupon & Daily Deals For Marketing, entering the couponing world is simply best practice when you have “products that aren’t selling well”.

Mr Richard had not returned a request for comment as we went to press.